Root Canal?
 

Anyone had a root canal done?
How bad is it?
I think I've got to have one done tomorrow, and I'm dreading it! Horror stories anyone?

I had one done a few years ago. It was not bad at all, I didn't even need painkillers. I had the prescription filled anyway :laugh: You never know when a vicodin will come in handy.

I wouldn't be too worried it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be.

FOUR, actually. I had a bad one, but I've had three good ones, too...no real "horror stories" though*.

Make a deal ahead of time with your dentist to ply you with a mountain of Vicodin and everything will be ok afterwards.


*One tip: Make sure (and have your dentist & his assistant make sure...DOUBLY sure) that your tongue is out of the way when you bite down on that gooey stuff that takes the impression for your crown. Having stitches in your tongue isn't all that fun.

Really the worst part was, during the procedure, adjusting my breathing to through my nose while my mouth was wide open.

Dammit, and vicodins make me sick at my stomach. He gave them to me for my wisdom teeth being pulled, and it was ALL I could do to not throw up. :(

I am sure he would give you something else. If you take painkillers with food or milk that can help too.

Hmmm, so I guess I don't understand it all. I'll "have" to have a crown??? I thought they just drilled down through the center, and did whatever to the root, then filled the hole. Am I wrong?
How much did it cost you for one to be done? I have Medical, but not Dental insurance. :rolleyes:

Yeah...you shouldn't really take Vicodin on an empty stomach. :nod:


I haven't heard of someone having a root canal done WITHOUT getting a crown. Unless there is a new generally accepted procedure or something. :shrug:

My best advice is be SURE to send me your vicodin. If you do that, the whole thing will go very smoothly.

I had two bottles of Vicodins from my wisdom teeth. But Steve Earle's guitar tech bought them(I mean stole them :rolleyes: ) from me a couple months ago.

I have had a few of these done. They are no big whoop, but this is the secret - don't let the medication wear off for the two days afterwards. Take the aspirin, painkiller, WHATEVER, before you leave the office, and keep taking them. If they wear off, the pain of that brutal things sets in and you'll be a sad puppy.

BTW, I think my last one, with a porcelain crown, was 800 bucks. I had to pay 10% of that.

And that affects me...how? :laugh:
Look, just send them, ok??? :shrug:

JK - I'm sure everything will be fine, I wish you no pain. :xoxo: I've never had any major dentist stuff, but from what I've heard, Sparky is very, very right.

:eek: :eek: :eek: $800? Oh ****! Take drugs regularly. Got it. Dammit, I bet that means I can't drink! Oh well, whatever price MUST be paid. I look like a chipmunk right now! :lol:

PFFFFFT!!!! Who says? :blob2:

JUST DON'T DRIVE!!!!

Blergh
 

I've had, I think, 3 root canals. I'm a major chicken when it comes to dentists. For my first one, I had nitrous. :D Just regular novocaine for the second 2, and i was fine. My husband only had one, about 15 years ago, and all of a sudden one day last month it started hurting him. Turns out he had a major abscess. They drilled down through the crown and the original root canal, drained it some and filled it, gave him some Vicodin and anti-biotics and sent him on his way. That happened the day we left for Disney World. A week and a half later it still hurt and looked like he had a golf ball in his mouth. More antibiotics and lots more drainage, and more painkillers. He seems to be okay now, but he has to go back tomorrow to make sure. The weird thing is the exact same thing just happened to TWO of my neighbors! Old root canals, abscessed, terrible pain, etc. Weird.

But I'm sure you'll be fine! ;) Good luck!!!!!

Carol

Thanks.
My wisdom teeth were a NIGHTMARE! The bottom two, that is. They WOULDN'T come out. The roots were intertwined (sp). He had to cancel his next three appts, twisted back and forth on me forever, and eventually sawed them in half, to get them out in pieces. I had those yellowy black and blue streaks down to my CHEST! How's THAT for a dentist horror story?
For a year, I'd occasionally have little lost slivers of them work their way through my gums. I now wish I hadn't remembered that story..... :(

Thanks. I'm not quite to golfball, but I'm not that far from it. And I hate that I have to work tonight, looking like Alvin the Chipmunk. Hopefully Neko won't notice(shameless name dropping here). ;) :wavey:

Um, is it name dropping if I have no idea who that is???

Eww, I was cringing and slamming my mouse reading this. You poor thing! They had to work to get one of mine out that was really impacted but not like they did for you. That was the worst thing, I swear, ewww.

This thread is weird because I think I may need one of these. I've gotta go to the dentist though, I might only need a filling but we'll see. :( I've had some pain in my tooth for a long time. Actually the pain just went away but it is still really sensitive.

Neko Case. Country torch songstress. Awesome voice. Tonight makes up for all the hiphop I have to do! :blob1:

It was the worst. He said, "that's why I did all four at once. If I'd done the two hard ones first, you'd have never come back". He was right!

Well, I've had this pain for about a month, but only bad twice. And I'm sure it's not a cavity, because all the pain is above my tooth, in my cheek. And it swelled up yesterday. It's like there's a marble inside my cheek. Call me Alvin!
I'm not one to wait to take care of these things, but I've been SO broke paying for doggie chemo($4700 since Feb), that I haven't had the money. I still don't, but now is PAST the waiting time to take care of it. It's MUST do now, money or not.
PS- Doggie did his final chemo two hours ago. Now, we go back monthly for checkups, mostly feeling his lymph nodes. He's my baby. :angel:

Ah. Good for you. Hip Hop shows are fun, though. Basically, I like to dance... :D

They had to dig under my bone to get my tooth out, basically breaking a piece off. However, I was lucky as afterward I had no pain at all. I took the meds for a day and stopped and nothing. They kept two of my wisdom teeth in because I had small molars removed before to pull an eye tooth down that was up in my gums and shift my teeth over. So I had room for those wisdoms. Thank god for braces or I'd still be avoiding smiling!

Good luck with your tooth, Alvin! I haven't been to the dentist in 3 years. :eek:

Aww, your doggie is done with chemo, yay!!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

I've had root canal twice on my same two upper front teeth.

When I was in second grade, I fell at recess on the blacktop & busted my two upper front teeth. Before they could cap them, I had to have root canal on both. This was at my grandmother's dentist who didn't know crap about doing root canal because it hurt like I don't know what & it didn't work, the root didn't die in either tooth. Years later I had to have root canal for these same two teeth as they started hurting me. This time I went to a specialist who only does root canal. It didn't hurt when he did it, & I haven't had any problem since (knock wood). So make sure you go to someone who knows what they're doing & you shouldn't have any problem.

Good luck. :wavey:

Lee :)

I have had three root canals. No horror stories, but I would take the pain medication for a day or two. I made the mistake of trying not to take them, and when the feeling came back into my mouth I was wishing that I had taken them sooner. Good luck! It will be fine. :)

I've had far too many root canals for one small girl. Like, maybe 6 or 8... :eek: They're actually not as bad as they sound. Your mouth will be totally frozen - the worst part is that your mouth has to be open for a long time, so it might ache a bit when you're all done. Bring a walkman or iPod if you can and just try to close your eyes and let them work away. You will need a crown - they'll put a temporary one on tomorrow; if it's in a way back tooth that won;t show, you may not have to get the permanent crown. They ARE expensive.

Good luck - don't worry.

Yep. Root canal. But I'm too swollen, so it's antibiotics til next Wed, then the big RC. And, unless there's an unseen problem, I WON'T have to get a crown(I'm so happy about this. I can spot a crown a mile away). He said usually only molars have to have crowns.
AMber, I've got your Vicodin. :blob1:

Um...you seem happy about your root canal. Congrats. :lol: No, that's cool you don't have to have a crown.
So, I'll pm you my address.... :laugh:
Good Luck!

She was in Bloomington last night, Greg. It was a really good show!

You had a rotten time with your wisdoms. I had all four removed (I was gassed) & I sat up afterward, took a few minutes to get my bearings, then went shopping for books & CDs with some pals.

As for a root canal, I don't ever want one. I don't think I'd like it.

I'll give you a report next Wed. Some people have told me it's nothing. Other's tell me a horror story.
I've always been afraid of gas. They gave it to me a couple of times as a kid, and I threw up both times, so I've always insisted on Novacaine, although I'm extremely hard to get numb, so they have to give me double or triple the normal dose, which means I'm numb until about 10pm!

Well..............horse****!!!
They started the root canal, and discovered that the tooth had a fracture, that ran completely through the root, so the tooth was unsavable. So, bye bye toothie!
So, I've got a hole in my smile. Thank gawd it's over on the side, and not in front!!!(upper tooth #13, for those that know their teeth). A month or so of healing, then, what would you all do?
#1- Removable bridge, only $300. But then you take your tooth out like Grandma every night. :distress:
#2 - A 3 crown piece, about $1850.00. But, they have to ruin the two good teeth on either side of the missing one, to hold it all in place(the assistant had one of these, and it looked good, I'm not sure how I feel about ruining the two adjacent teeth.
#3 - Implant. My dentist doesn't do them, but he said he thought they were about $2000, plus $700 for the crown that goes on top of the implant.
I don't have dental insurance. :(
What would ya'all choose?